Guided by Josh Engel and Charley Hesse. This custom tour had an itinerary similar to our set-departure tour.
This trip produced highlights too numerous to list. We saw virtually all of the specialties we sought, including escarpment specialties like Rockrunner, White-tailed Shrike, Hartlaub’s Francolin, Herero Chat and Violet Wood-hoopoe and desert specialties like Dune and Gray’s Larks and Rueppell’s Korhaan. We cleaned up on Kalahari specialties, and added bonuses like Bare-cheeked and Black-faced Babblers, while also virtually cleaning up on swamp specialties, like Pel’s Fishing-Owl and Rufous-bellied Heron and Slaty Egret. Of course, with over 40 species seen, mammals provided many memorable experiences as well, including a lioness catching a warthog at one of Etosha’s waterholes, only to have it stolen away by a male. Elsewhere, we saw a herd of Hartmann’s Mountain Zebras in the rocky highlands Bat-eared Foxes in the flat Namib desert on the way to the coast; otters feeding in front of our lodge in Botswana; a herd of Sable Antelope racing in front of the car in Mahango Game Reserve. This trip is also among the best for non-animal highlights, and we stayed at varied and wonderful lodges, eating delicious local food and meeting many interesting people along the way.
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This was our custom tour–and what a fantastic trip this was–from beginning to end, A to Z, everything was great! Our first trip to Namibia/Botswana, and we’d bring a group again in a heartbeat. You have all the excitement of an African Safari, and an incredible variety of birds, as well. Roads are well maintained, lodging and food is great, people we met along the way couldn’t have been nicer. Our guides were helpful, so knowledgeable, patient, smart and funny–what a nice combination. Clients on the trip agreed that this was one of the best ever. (except when Charley made us push the van that got stuck in SAND)
Good job, boys!